Elise Posted April 5, 2019 Report Share Posted April 5, 2019 Hello all, forgive my green abilities regarding firing. I have been throwing for about 7 years and just bought my first kiln. I got a brief run down from the previous owner on how to operate it but again, I’m very new to firing. I would appreciate anyone taking mercy on me by offering some tips :) The kiln is a L&L Econokiln with a kiln sitter attached. I ran my first firing last night. The previous owner told me to turn the 3 gauges on the kiln sitter on “high” and to crack the cover for the first hour if my pottery has any moisture. This is what I did. On first look this morning, the pottery on the top shelf looks like it all fired completely (uniform lighter color and there appears to be some shrinkage) but is there something I can test make sure it did in fact fire all the way? I’d hate to apply glaze and have everything explode in the second firing. One thing I did notice right away that I am pretty sure isn’t ideal is that the cone I used (Cone 06) snapped in half instead of bending. What caused this and how do I prevent in the future? Also, the previous owner said to fire with a plug in the peep hole, is that accurate? TIA! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
liambesaw Posted April 5, 2019 Report Share Posted April 5, 2019 You can always fire it again to cone 06 to be sure. But stuff won't explode when it's glazed as long as it's dry when it's fired. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tomhumf Posted April 7, 2019 Report Share Posted April 7, 2019 When I fired a kiln like that I always started with the dials on low with the lid propped. I waited until no moisture condensing on a hand mirror held above lid. Then closed lid and started turning switches up. I've never had a cone snap, maybe it was damaged before it went in. Maybe get some new cones to be sure they aren't all damaged? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elise Posted April 8, 2019 Author Report Share Posted April 8, 2019 I am trying to view all the replies to my post but I’m only seeing two, even after refreshing. Anyone know how to fix? update: ignore this! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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